AL East Notes: Jays, Donaldson, Happ, Yanks, Ellsbury, Giambi

Between third baseman Josh Donaldson and left-hander J.A. Happ, the Blue Jays’ top two impending free agents, the latter is likely to bring back the greater return at the trade deadline, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal says (video link). Unlike Happ, Donaldson has been a superstar at his best, but the onetime MVP is now amid an underwhelming season at an inopportune time. As Rosenthal points out, not only is the 32-year-old Donaldson on the disabled list for the second time this season, but he has posted his worst numbers since 2012 – the year before he broke out – and will still have about $7MM coming his way at the July 31 deadline. Further, there could be other established third base options on the market in Manny Machado, Mike Moustakas and Adrian Beltre. The 35-year-old Happ, meanwhile, is enjoying a fourth straight above-average season and has logged a career-best strikeout rate (10.23 K/9) over 82 2/3 innings. He may end up as the most appealing starter on the block in the next month and a half.

Thanks in part to his myriad injury issues this year, the Yankees’Jacoby Ellsbury has become a forgotten man as part of an outfield that boasts Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks at the major league level and Clint Frazier in the minors. Ellsbury may still factor into the mix this year, however, as he was examined by a back specialist last week and will soon “ramp up” to baseball activities, manager Aaron Boone told David Lennon of Newsday and other reporters Sunday. Ellsbury hasn’t played at all in 2018, the fifth season of an ill-fated seven-year, $153MM contract, because of hip, foot and back problems.

During their managerial search that culminated in Boone’s hiring last winter, the Yankees did not consider former major league slugger Jason Giambi, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com reports. They did contact Giambi regarding a job in the organization, Kuty adds, though the ex-Yankee said Sunday at the team’s Old-Timers’ Day festivities that the timing wasn’t right for him. “I think they kind of tested to see where I was at and I just said I wasn’t ready,” said Giambi, who went on to suggest that he didn’t want to be away from his young children. Now 47, Giambi came up as a coaching candidate even before his playing career ended in 2014, as he interviewed for the Rockies’ managerial opening in 2012. That position ended up going to Walt Weiss.

Gianni was one of the only ones admitting PED. You gotta give him credit. Ellsbury is being buried by the Yankees cuz his ridiculous contract NYY gave him. The Redsox give enuff bad contracts to the likes of Panda, Crawford, n on… They were smart with Ellsbury, but usually they end up eating the long contracts, just like The NYY.

“shouldn’t matter to you as a fan”
It most certainly does when it hinders possible moves financially to improve the team I root for. The Yankees pulled an excellent move in getting Stanton and with other moves managed to still be under the threshold.

And when has that happened? Be specific, when did the Yanks pass on an opportunity to acquire a player they wanted because of money? Every year Cashman and Hal S talk about getting under the salary cap and every year they nonetheless end up over the cap. Watch, it will happen again this year.

Sure will. Have no problem taking responsibility for my misses as well as my hits. Been following the Yankees since the mid’60s and have a pretty good idea what to expect. But I’ll take my lumps if wrong.

They will deal soon and having Ellsbury on their payroll won’t be an impediment. They may try to restructure some of the salary(ies) they take on but they will not be prevented from making a deal by financial concerns. I’m still waiting for you (or anyone else) to come up with an example of the Yanks not doing a deal because of money?

Sorry, I don’t care what other people did, but as a rule I don’t “give credit” or applaud someone for telling the truth, something we should all do anyway. There was a line about that at the end of the movie Quiz Show that came out when I was about 12 or 13, and it always stuck with me.

The moral authority weighs in! Because I’m sure you are always forthcoming with the whole truth regardless of the consequences, and have been your entire life! The fact is we live in a culture saturated by lies. And many of these steroid era guys didn’t even lie, they just said nothing. We actually should think highly of someone who tells the truth in the face of massive life altering consequences, especially in this situation where so many guys did their juicing before it was against the rules or disfavored.

Seriously man get off your high horse and look in the mirror before we all puke.

Also, in fact, Weiss has done an excellent job this year with the Braves. As basically Snitker’s number two, Weiss and Snitker have combined to do a pretty solid job together. Bullpen questions aside, Snitker has given AA and Co. A tough choice to make for who will be the Braves manager next season..

Snitker, while he has been with the Braves organization for 40 years hisself, he has leaned on Weiss for advice all throughout this season. With that being said, it is not a coincidence that Snitker has done a better job managing this team this season…

They have all COMBINED done an EXCELLENT job this year, helping the Braves take the next step towards becoming a real contender..

While the staff was put together before AA was hired, I believe, even still, I wouldn’t be at all suprised to see this staff get another shot next season. Although, I’m sure some other team will try to pry away one of Weiss, Washington, Hernandez, Seitzer, Fasano, or even especially Castro..But this staff’s chemistry together has been one of the reasons this team has taken a big step forward this year..

Seitzer and Castro do not NEARLY get the credit they deserve!! Both have combined to collectively help ALL of the Braves’ hitters this year. They make the perfect pairing, and whether it is Markakis, Swanson, Albies, Tucker, Flaherty, Flowers, Suzuki, Inciarte, Acuña, Camargo, Culberson or even Freeman, at some point each of these players have given credit to one of the two, if not both, for helping them make adjustments this season.

Eric Young has helped tremendously with the running game, and Wash has been aggressive as well sending guys home, but Wash has also done wonders for the infield defense. He’s especially helped Albies and Swanson, he has guided them to their ceilings as one of the best double play tandems in the majors..

Not sure of what all Fasano has done to help Flowers or Suzuki, but both continue to make strides combining to help Atlanta have one of the best catching duos in the NL..ALTHOUGH, from what I’ve read, Fasano gets nothing but glowing reviews from those who work with and under his tutelage..

The only change I might make is their bullpen coach Marty Reed. Although, to his credit, Vizzy, Winkler, Biddle, and Carle have all taken steps forward this year..Minter has been up and down, Freeman has had his own ups and downs, and Moylan has just simply struggled this season..

Marty Reed does not have a ton to work with, and relief pitchers are volatile in nature anyways, so it is tough to really say what kind of impact Reed has had positive or negative..Although, the unit as a whole, everyone has seemingly struggled with giving up walks, and if they can’t seem to fix their issues with walks, then maybe Reed has to go..

Anyone have any thoughts on the job Reed has done with the Braves?? Or any thoughts on the other Braves bench coaches??

(And PLEASE no more comments on Snitker’s bullpen management, every coach makes questionable decisions regarding his bullpen..Some more than others, but still it has been discussed ad nauseum.)

The braves have overachieved this year. For anyone to criticize them, would be absurd. What a great coaching staff they have. Tons of major league experience. Young players love former players as coaches. They have done a fabulous job stockpiling young talent. And now it’s showing at the major league level.

Well, regardless of its absurdity, you will always have “those fans” that just seemingly cannot help themselves…lol

Even with the staff they assembled, I thought they would make some improvements, BUT I was not expecting this kind of improvement so fast!! I expected the Braves to start to contend possibly next season, but I only had them pegged for around 70-75 wins this year…

The job Chuck Hernandez and actually Anibal Sanchez has done with Folty and Newk is remarkable!! With those two leading the way, and with young studs like Soroka and Allard close to becoming big time contributors, it is only a matter of time before the Braves really set the NL East on fire!!

“Ellsbury, in the fifth year of a seven-year contract, will collect his $21,142,857.15 whether he plays or not.”

“A Yankees source told me the club has a similar policy on Ellsbury, which has already begun to defray the bulk of his salary for the first two months of 2018. In an ideal world, Ellsbury would sit out the remainder of the season, the Yankees would muddle through with a rotation of Gardner, Hicks and Frazier in centerfield – and be reimbursed to the tune of $15,857,142.86.“

Judge, Stanton, Hicks, Frazier, with Florial knocking on the door. I don’t see much room, and I certainly don’t want Ellsbury in one of those spots. I’d much rather they trade Ellsbury and resign Gardner if they’re going to keep the outfield over-stuffed.

“with Florial knocking on the door” lol…the guy is not even close to the Majors, he’s in A ball and is injured and will be out until at least August, and he was hitting .246 before getting hurt. Frazier hasn’t even been in the big leagues long enough or proven anything for you to make that statement. No one will take on Ellsbury.

Amazing how many Gardner haters there are out there….I guess their just jealous because all you said xabial is true…..and he is better in LF than Gordon who also can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
A key at the top of the order, comes to play each and every day, who comes up with gritty at bat after gritty at bat and consistently gets big hits that win games.
And, a home grown Yankee at that!

Ellesbury’s contract is the perfect example of why teams are not doing as many long term deals and large ones anymore. [Except the stupid Padres, see Hosmer].

The cost of long term deals hampers the ability for teams to compete long term. GM’s and Owners are smartening up. Donaldson won’t see a big payday and Machado and Harper’s will be reduced in AAV and especially in term. The market hit its pinnacle a few years ago and is now on the decline. Very few Ellesbury or Tulo or Rodriguez or Grienke or Chris Davis contracts will be availalbe. David price’s contract is the worst. Wait and look for it. it will happen. It has too. The economics and longterm planning and competativeness demand it.

Jimmer it will also depend on the age of the player. Hosmer got that contract due to being 28 years old. Harper and Machado will get paid by someone trigger-happy to take the next step. Similar to Jason Heyward, only the other guys have produced much better offensively.

Anyone 30 and above, like Donaldson, won’t see the same gifts their predecessors did.

Also, not so sure the Hosmer contract was such a bad deal for the Padres. He’s added a consistent, veteran presence in the Padres lineup and just as importantly their locker room.

It is players like Hosmer that will help this young Padres team turn the corner into contenders. Heck, look at what Markakis, Flowers/Suzuki, and Freeman are doing for the Braves…Not to mention what Anibal Sanchez has done for the Braves younger pitchers. He’s helped them all learning how to pitch, instead of just throwing. Helping then with their secondary pitches, their sequencing, and alternating speeds to throw off hitters’ timing..

Point is, certainly do NOT discount what kind of affect adding a solid veteran can add to a young, up and coming team..

All short=term thinking. Gm’s and owners are switching to long-term thinking. That means all of his years need to be productive. I suspect Hosmer will be a pylon by the time this contract is in its 5th year leaving 3 years of terrible performance.

That’s the other part of the Hosmer argument; why San Diego? For the Padres, they need a lot more to contend. Many will disagree, but it’s very true. That will take a lot more money and the hope for promising young players to stay healthy and improve.

For Hosmer, going to a pitchers-friendly park may not have been the wise choice. Then again, if a team throws that kind of money at you, you say yes (see Werth, Jayson).

Jimmer we are seeing it now with Russell Martin. Catcher wasn’t the area of concern before the 2015 season in terms of positions to fill. They gave him that monster contract and made deals to shed some salary to accommodate. Jays were lucky with Marco Estrada, as he was one deal that helped facilitate the Martin signing.

While I agree that a veteran presence can have profound effects on a young team, of the names you listed, only Freeman (who is a home-grown player) makes anywhere near what Hosmer is making, while the others you listed probably don’t even combine for $20M/year. Atlanta went with low cost veterans (for the most part) on short term deals.

Deals like the one given to Hosmer can tie the hands of a club later on when the player starts to decline and the team (which is otherwise competing) needs to add talent via FA or retain their own players to get to the next level.

The padres must think that in the next 3-5 years they are going to be competitive and therefore Hosmer will be a major part of that success. If they can’t put a good team around him in that time period, it was a waste of money.

It’s kind of hard to predict even though he’s a number two pitcher on almost every team in the league. I’d say with him being a rental you can’t expect anything more than a top 100 prospect in the 50-100 range plus some other high upside guys.

But somehow they acquired Hernandez for Liriano last year so I’m going to hold out hope that Shatkins can rob another team blind this year on a rental pitcher.

That will depend on which contending team is in serious need of an arm, a lefty arm, and if they are willing to break the luxury threshold. Also not sure if a team like the Yankees are willing to deal with a division rival. They could use Happ. But the Yankees can play the waiting game considering their overall record. That changes if Boston goes on a huge win streak right now.

Jays need arms, that should be the target. One top prospect and maybe a younger talent in low-A that’s off the grid.

How Much Will It Help If Either Right Now Or Sometime Before My New York Yankees Host The Boston Red Sox On June 29 For A 3 Game Series At Yankee Stadium,Brian Cashman Trades Albert Abreu,Domingo Acevedo,Freicer Perez,Clint Frazier,Billy McKinney & Estevan Florial for either Madison Bumgarner,Cole Hamels,Patrick Corbin,James Paxton,Danny Duffy,J.A. Happ,Jacob DeGrom,Chris Archer,Felix Hernandez,Tyson Ross,Lance Lynn or Michael Fulmer.